5G Distributed Base Station Control Plane Redundancy
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The distributed base station in 5G communication systems faces challenges in resiliency, including the need for pre-establishing redundant interfaces, timely backup/migration of UE context, and efficient activation of redundant control plane units upon failure.
Innovation Solution
The method involves transmitting information to identify a further control plane unit as a redundant unit for the control plane unit, initiating procedures for configuring the redundant unit, and backing up UE contexts to ensure seamless failure recovery with minimal signaling and service downtime.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a centralized gNB-CU architecture is implemented with large coverage area, then resource utilization and management are improved, but the risk of single point of failure increases affecting many users
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-establishing redundant control plane units and backup user plane units before any failure occurs. The system configures alternative paths and backup nodes in advance, so when a failure happens, the backup infrastructure is already in place and can be activated immediately without waiting for failure detection and configuration setup.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements beforehand cushioning by creating redundant copies of control plane units and backup user plane units that stand ready to absorb the impact of a failure. This cushioning infrastructure includes pre-configured backup paths and resources that can compensate for the loss of primary components, thereby protecting against the single point of failure risk while maintaining centralized architecture benefits.
2Reliability
If redundant interfaces are established in advance for resiliency, then failure recovery capability is improved, but device complexity and signaling load increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-establishing redundant interfaces and backup paths during normal operation, so that when a failure occurs, the system can switch to backup infrastructure without complex real-time configuration. The redundancy infrastructure is built in advance through standard signaling procedures, avoiding the need for complex emergency reconfiguration.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements copying by creating duplicate control plane units and backup user plane units that replicate the functionality of primary components. These copies include duplicated interfaces and configuration data, allowing the system to switch to backup copies without complex reconfiguration. The copying approach simplifies failure recovery by making backup infrastructure identical to primary infrastructure in terms of interface protocols and configuration formats.
3Reliability
If timely backup/migration of UE context is implemented, then service continuity is improved, but signaling load and processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-establishing backup user plane units and redundant interfaces before any failure occurs. When a failure happens, the UE context migration can proceed immediately using pre-configured backup paths, avoiding the need for complex real-time context transfer procedures. This preliminary setup reduces the signaling burden during failure recovery by using pre-negotiated backup configurations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements copying by creating duplicate user plane functionality in backup units that include copied UE context data and configuration parameters. This allows for efficient context migration during failure recovery, as the backup units already contain the necessary operational state information. The copying approach reduces signaling load by avoiding the need to reconstruct UE contexts from scratch during failure scenarios.
4Reliability
If secondary CU-CP is activated upon main unit failure, then control plane recovery is improved, but user plane interruptions may occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-establishing backup user plane units and redundant F1 interfaces connected to both primary and backup control plane units before any failure occurs. When the main control plane unit fails, the secondary unit can be activated immediately with pre-configured user plane paths already in place, minimizing user plane interruptions. The preliminary setup includes pre-negotiated backup paths that can be activated without waiting for path establishment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements beforehand cushioning by creating backup user plane units that stand ready to absorb the impact of control plane failure. These backup units include pre-configured interfaces and paths that can take over user plane traffic immediately when the primary control plane fails. This cushioning infrastructure protects against user plane interruptions by having alternative paths already in place and operational.
Data Source
AI summary
A communication system is disclosed which includes a distributed base station apparatus comprising a control plane unit, a user plane unit, and a distributed unit. Respective interfaces are set up between the control plane unit and the user plane unit, between the control plane unit and the distributed unit, and between the control plane unit and a core network node. The control plane unit acts as a master control plane unit. The user plane unit or the distributed unit obtains information identifying a further control plane unit to act as a redundant unit in case of a failure the master control plane unit. Corresponding interfaces are set up between the further control plane unit and the user plane unit, between the further control plane unit and the distributed unit, and between the further control plane unit and a core network node for resiliency.